Brits On Board: Coaster Club members thrilled with coaster at Michigan's Adventure

Evan Witek | Muskegon ChronicleTwist and shout: The Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain pulls a corkscrew Sunday on Thunderhawk at Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park.

MUSKEGON -- For Ryan Hackett, the chance to ride Michigan's Adventure's Shivering Timbers roller coaster was worth overcoming his fear of flying and getting on a plane -- all the way from London to Chicago.

Hackett, of Pembrokeshire, Wales, already had gone on trips to British amusement parks as a member of the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain. When the group took its first trip to Michigan's Adventure in 1999, Hackett knew he had to find a way to overcome his fear of flying.

The club makes an annual trip to the United States for about a week in the summer. This year's trip kicked off Sunday at Michigan's Adventure and will include six theme parks, ending with a "surprise" park on July 30.

After hypnotherapy, Hackett said, he's still uncomfortable with planes, but it's worth the more than seven-hour flight to get time on what he considers one of the world's best wooden roller coasters.

"I love this ride so much," he said. "The mental fear I go through flying, it's worth it to come and ride this ride."

Hackett commemorated the coaster with a picture on the "bonnet," or hood, of his car. He said he had followed news of Shivering Timbers when it was being built.

"My main motivation (for overcoming the fear of flying) to get here was to ride Shivering Timbers," he said. "This one just stood out from the rest and, 11 years later, it still does."

Club founder Andy Hine, of London, said the group takes trips to British and European theme parks, but many of the world's greatest rides are across the pond.

"You can't have a coaster tour without coming to America, where the best coasters are," he said.

Michigan's Adventure General Manager Camille Jourden-Mark said she hasn't seen any groups come from farther to visit Michigan's Adventure, and they bring plenty of enthusiasm.

"They're like little kids. They want to get off and get back on quick," she said. "Some of them ran to the coaster, because they wanted to be the first ones on."

For this group, the fun doesn't stop when the ride does. When asked why they rode with the British enthusiasts, Lisa and Pete Marshall of Seattle, the only American couple in the group, pointed to three fellow coaster-lovers in line. The trio had linked arms and were doing what appeared to be an improvised square dance.

Nor does the enthusiasm taper off after a full day of rides. Club members who fall asleep on their tour bus risk having their pictures put on the "Wall of Shame" if caught.

"The bus is like a madhouse," said Dennis Bloor of Cornwall, a retiree who makes the trip every year with his wife, Sylvia.

For Chris Sawyer, of Dublane, Scotland, however, his involvement was less about fun at first than about business. He first went to Michigan's Adventure in 1999, when he was writing the computer game Roller Coaster Tycoon. Only after spending time with the club did he really learn to love the bumps and loops.

"Some rides exceeded my expectations" from writing digital coasters, he said. "I have never ridden a wooden coaster this big."